The oldest and most inscrutable empire on the Discworld is in turmoil, brought on by the revolutionary treatise “What I Did on My Holidays.” Workers are uniting, and war is spreading through the ancient cities. And all that stands in the way of terrible doom is . . . Rincewind the Wizard, who can’t even spell the word “wizard.”

Product Description

From Amazon

Marvelous Discworld, which revolves on the backs of four great elephants and a big turtle, spins into Interesting Times, the 17th outing in Terry Pratchett's rollicking fantasy series. The gods are playing games again, and this time the mysterious Lady opposes Fate in a match of "Destinies of Nations Hanging by a Thread." --Blaise Selby--This text refers to the
Mass Market Paperback
edition.

From Library Journal

When the Agatean Empire requests the Great Wizzard, Lord Vetinari of Ankh-Morpork sends a pathetically inept wizard named Rincewind 6000 miles away to the Counterweight Continent to intercede. The latest novel in the satirical fantasy "Discworld" series; for fantasy collections with the series.Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.

Most helpful customer reviews

I've only read about seven of the Discworld books, so I'm hardly an expert, but I know enough to feel qualified to write this review. I feel that this is better than any of the other books of his I have read. While his books are all wildly original, this one wins on the points of comparison.First off, the settings of Ankh-Morpork and the Counterweight Continent are both well done. Pratchett taps into the same vein of humor underrunning the image of Imperial China that Barry Hughart did in "Bridge of Birds". He also introduces a very interesting linguistic idea, playing off the use of tone in spoken Chinese to create a language with few words but many, many different pronunciations. The other plot ideas, such as the Mandelbrot Butterfly etc., are well done, but the language was such a well-thought yet off-the-wall idea that it beat everything else.The characters are well done also. Old barbarians are a comic image, but Pratchett is able to really use his old barbarians to advance the plot rather than having them hang around solely for laughs. The Gods play off each other well, and Rincewind's cowardice and fleeing make the places he lands in all the more interesting. The ending wraps everything up well without being too perfect, and Death is funnier than ever.Hitting nary a wrong note, this book is worth getting out of the library, or buying if you are a Discworld fan. I would recommend it to anyone who likes fantasy, and also "Thief of Time", by the same author.

While I've known Terry Pratchett's name for some time now (his collaboration with Neil Gaiman in Good Omens is fantastic) I'd never read one of his books before. I was familiar with the world from an old graphic novel of one of his books (I think Color of Magic) so I didn't feel obligated to start at the beginning. Interesting Times follows the character of Rincewind on a journey through the Counterweight Continent, the discworld version of the Orient. Rincewind is an interesting character and Pratchett plays him well as a rather powerless wizard who just happens to get by through a sheer amount of luck, and the quickness of his fleeing legs. A pessimistic character, I liked him through the beginning of the book, though by the end his uneagerness to help anyone grew a bit tiresome (though unconciously he tends to help out a great deal.) Rincewind shares the stage, however, with a group of aging barbarians called the Silver Horde who steal the show really. The best bits of the book are the ones involving the Horde. Their lessons on how to be civilized and inability to change their habits. While I can't rate this in comparison to other Discworld books, I found it highly entertaining, and though, probably not the best place to start the series off. Read some other Pratchett books to aquaint yourself with the world, and work your way up to Interesting Times. It's worth the time.

This was my first Discworld book, read about a year and a half ago. Pratchett binging ever since. I think I've read ten or twelve now. I do know there have only been two non-Pratchett books and a small hiatus to re-read the Hitchhiker's Guide when Mr. Adams passed on.The only reason Interesting Times doesn't get 5 stars is because "Small Gods" was a rather seminal book to me, and overshadows this one, if only because of the topic it covers. (Using hilarity to outline a church concept which had me smacking my forehead and cracking the back of my head on the headboard.)Anyway, I read this and had no idea who Twoflower was, or Cohen, or CMOT Dibbler, or any of the other usual suspects, and still enjoyed it immensely. The follow-up effort "Last Continent" left me wanting, but my girlfriend loved it.I still think the quote on the back of one of his newer books seems to say it best... it says something along the lines of 'you'd expect Mr. Pratchett to recycle material or become formulaic in the Discworld series after XX books, but each time he goes back to the mine he returns with a motherload.'

It is the between time when empires fall and new ones emerges that the faces of human stupidity is shown, and no matter how much thing change, the more they remain the same. This is the "Interesting Times" to wit Terry Pratchett has themed the book.In this book Pratchett explore the concept of "good intentions sometime causes bad thing to happen" where he dealt with the idea through the Red Army in the book. This book also feature heavily Ghenghis Cohen, one of the interesting character who is mentioned from time to times. Cohen if enigmatic, and anyone who read Interesting Times will surely like him.The backdrop theme of this book concern a lot about Asian culture and why the fall of the Chinese was inevertable, as illustrated quite well in this book.Pratchett also detailed a great deal about Asian culture. Given all the details and complexity of this book, in addition to the cowardous character of Rinewind and the enigmatic Ghenghis Cohen, this book is a must have. This is one of my favorite book of all time, it is one of the most well storied book by Pratchett with complex themes and the character of Rinewind and Cohen finally fully developed.